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Chapter 97: My first Davi. [Release Version]
🕑 Added 2020-09-08 21:58:52 +0000 UTCOn the same day the saurians left with the people from the other village, the mercenaries and Count Helvas’ party left also. While saying goodbye to the mercenaries wasn’t anything spectacular, I was quite surprised to see Count Helvas’s transportation method. I thought they would use their carriages to travel toward the capital of Artorias, Griffonpeak, but I was wrong. Befitting the capital’s name, an actual eagle-lion hybrid griffon appeared!
<Stormfeather Griffon: A feathered monster with the head and wings of a majestic eagle and the body of a mighty lion. These large griffons possess wings with the ability to adjust themselves quickly to rapidly changing turbulences, enabling them to traverse through even the most turbulent windstorms. Their feathers enable them to send out gusts of wind to topple aerial opponents before striking them down with their sharp talons. Rank B>
Similar to the wyverns I met in Belzac forest, this griffon was around the size of an elephant. It had long, powerful brown wings like those of a bald eagle, while its body had the musculature of a lion with sharp talons on its front legs and lion-like hind legs and a tail. Instead of a mane of fur, brown feathers covered its chest and neck, giving off a regal aura whenever it puffed them up. It looked exactly the way fantasy novels always described them.
Curious about the griffon, I sneaked up to the Count’s house with Saori and Tasianna following me. We watched how Count Helvas appeared out of the house, donning a suit of armor riddled with dents and scars only a veteran warrior could possibly have, and greeting his griffon with a wide smile. “Always on time, my partner”, he said before mounting it.
Countess Helvas and Jonathan, their son, left the house also. As no other griffons were there, I thought they would travel with the carriage while Count Helvas would either travel to the capital without them or join them as a guard. However, against my expectations, both the Countess and Jonathan took out brown statues and poured mana into them, making them grow into brown griffons.
<Gargoyle Manatech Statues: A manatech created through a combination of technology and alchemy using monster parts to create the form of a monster. By pouring mana into them, these statues can grow in size and perform whatever simple motions their referenced monster can do, but only when they are attached to their masters. These gargoyles do not possess a will and lack advance combat features>
Gargoyles: stone statues that would awaken into fierce monsters when mana was injected into them. Fantasy novels always had them as guardians of a sorcerer’s estate, defending their master’s belongings with fierce loyalty until they were destroyed. I wasn’t expecting to see them here, but neither was I prepared to see a griffon.
Countess Helvas, in an outfit suitable for flying, and her son both mounted their gargoyles and set off with Count Helvas into the sky, only escorted by two knights on their own gargoyles. Weirdly enough, before they left, I had the feeling the griffon was looking in our direction but…that couldn’t be it, right? Saori, Tasianna, and I all had our stealth skills activated, so we should have been impossible to detect. Somehow, I felt a bit of hostility from the griffon, but that had to be my imagination, right?
Strangely enough, during that whole event, Ellaine wasn’t joining them in their travels but was the one saying goodbye to her family with Barathan. Carriages were then prepared, which I thought was Ellaine’s travel method, but only Countess Helvas’ head maid and a few other servants entered them as they departed with a few soldiers as their escorts. Later, I learned they were also traveling to the capital, where they would serve in the count’s mansion there.
Once Ellaine returned inside the mansion, with a dejected expression similar to an abandoned puppy, our party left the mansion’s vicinity. We returned to the same area where the fishing from yesterday happened and resumed what we did with the villagers. The number of streaming barracudas hadn’t decline, to everybody’s joy.
The next day, the 30th, the villagers couldn’t join us due to the higher ranked barracudas appearing today. Large ones like those [Moss Stone Barracuda]s would appear today, so only the three of us could physically fish them without endangering ourselves. Thankfully, as nobody would be watching us, I could finally unleash my pent-up excitement and fish up an amount worthy for a feast. What I consider a feast, mind you.
The day after that, AutumnMoon 1st, Ellaine returned to supervise me. She greeted me with Barathan after we finished breakfast, followed beside me as we walked to the village’s gate, unnerving the villagers. With them, we strolled into the forest, giving them a front-row seat of our training sessions. She barely said anything during training, but I could see the visible shock in her eyes when one of us cast a high leveled or compound spell, like lightning or ice.
Hiding our power was an option, but I needed to let off some steam. Becoming a [Young Sunfang Dragon] has certainly calmed me down more but I’ve noticed myself acting a bit more arrogant when I’m annoyed. There was no need to risk [Battle Frenzy] and we three needed training. Our stats and skills increased so it was rewarding, nonetheless.
<Multiple proficiency requirements fulfilled. [Long-Range Spell Enhancement Lv. 2] [Air Walk Lv. 4] [Thought Acceleration Lv. 3] gained>
“Lady Hestia, this might be presumptuous of me, but you are aware dark elemental magic isn’t favored by the church, right? It surprises me one of your retainers is a dark mage,” Ellaine suddenly mentioned after my spars.
“…Do your spies not use it?” I asked cautiously.
She shook her head, “Our house doesn’t, no, but that’s because hiring an arcane rogue is quite difficult due to the church. You might not be an actual priestess but seeing a holy mage together with a dark mage is…unusual.”
This reminded me of the time I met the lizardmen and learned of their fear of holy mages. While dark magic practitioners weren’t outlawed in Artorias, they weren’t popular among the more fanatical followers of Aurena. The reason being Origin God Marsven and his subordinate gods. I guess having the goddess of monsters as a wife and a daughter responsible for the creation of the grimgarians might be reason enough for the church of Aurena to ostracize them.
Ellaine, herself, didn’t have a strong opinion on the subject. Her mother came from the Morgiana duchy. House Morgiana focused on the arcane, so they and the noble houses serving under them are favorable towards all Origin Gods. Her opinion as a mage was also influenced by her time at the royal academy at the kingdom’s capital, where no element was prohibited.
Huh, I guess even medieval times had an understanding of school, at least for the nobility.
“The academy begins again in SpringSun, and I would love it if you would join me, at least, for a tour. Considering your display just now, I honestly believe you might be superior to my professors, which will garner you exceptional esteem from other nobles,” Ellaine mentioned with wonder.
“Thank you for the praise, but I don’t know if I’ll have the time nor opportunity,” I declined with a faint smile from the compliments.
On the next day, Ellaine took me to her mansion before I trained, and was still clean from my morning bath. Due to my actions on the first day of the barracuda migration where I healed somebody, I had to be paid for granting the white grace. I initially wanted to decline the payment but the words of Count Helvas were still vivid in my memories, so I accepted it. I’m a good girl, I don’t want trouble.
Saori, who accompanied me, was shivering with delight at the sight of money. If we were at home now, I bet she would take the purse away and start counting it or maybe cuddle with it as she fell asleep. Somehow, I had that image in my head. She was so relieved that our coffers finally weren’t empty anymore.
While I was there, I also asked Ellaine how money worked. Initially, she was quite surprised I didn’t know how Davi, the universal currency of this continent, worked but I quickly explained I was used to a different kind. Accepting my excuse, she nodded. With a slight move of her hand, Barathan moved forward, took out a small pouch, and spread a few coins on the table.
“Then, please, allow this humble servant to educate her Grace,” Barathan announced, before ordering Ellaine’s personal maid to bring the gold coins.
On the table, an assortment of coins colored in copper and silver laid before me, with the majority being of silver.
I did see these coins when Colwyn showed them to me but back then I had literally no idea what they meant. Learning how to use money is a necessity.
“As you might be aware, Davi is a currency introduced to us by the dwarves, as they are the leading force when it comes to minerals and metalwork. All human nations have adopted it as their national currency to ease trade with the dwarves,” Barathan explained. “To begin, this small copper coin is worth one Davi.”
The small copper coin looked simple aside from an insignia with a shield and hammer in the middle of it. The medium copper coin was worth ten Davi, with an appearance similar to a Japanese ten yen coin, while the large copper coin was a little larger and worth a hundred Davi.
“Ah, thank you,” Barathan thanked the maid, accepting two gold coins from her. “Now where were we? These are silvite and goldite coins, a creation of the dwarves made by mixing silver and gold with impurities. My warning might be redundant, but please be careful not to melt them. Due to the impurities, the worth of the minerals inside of it is vastly inferior compared to using the coin outright.”
I might not know what went through the minds of the creators of these coins, but mixing impurities inside of them to prevent them from being melted was ingenious. Although, considering dwarves in fantasy novels were usually extremely prideful of their work, maybe their intention was simply to prevent people from ruining their work?
Regardless, back to the coins. A small silvite coin was a thousand Davi while a large one was ten thousand. A small goldite one was a hundred thousand and a large one was worth a million.
“The price for the white grace depends on the spell cast during the healing. They work on the different tiers of the ‘heal’ spell and if [Cure] was needed,” Ellaine explained. “[Minor Heal] would cost 200 Davi, [Moderate Heal] is 1500 Davi, and [Major Heal] is 5000 Davi. You’ve used [Major Heal], yes? And also a custom spell I’ve never seen before, which means I owe you…”
“200 Davi is enough for me,” I answered before Ellaine could speak. “Casting a single [Major Heal] barely puts a dent in my mana capacity, and my [Sanctified Blaze] acts similarly to a [Cure]. Besides, that man wasn’t in critical condition and I use [Major Heal] liberally due to my mentioned reason.”
It’s more ‘cause I can’t use [Minor Heal] and [Moderate Heal] anymore due to Shiterno’s idiocy, but I can’t say that here. Who would believe me having [Sacred Magic] but not [Holy Magic] anymore?
“…That is unacceptable, Lady Hestia. I will agree to your offer but as you have cured him of [Poisoned], I must insist you take the price of a single [Cure] cast, which is 500 Davi.”
And with that, our group was 700 Davi, or seven large copper coins, richer now, yay. Apparently, bread was worth around five Davi per loaf according to Barathan so we had quite a nice amount. However, when I said that at home, Saori began scolding me for not thinking it through, that I forgot about the other costs of living. Urgh, getting scolded sucks…especially when I didn’t care that much about the subject. I could always earn more money with my magic.
And that’s exactly what I did the next day. When I walked around the village’s perimeter, I noticed how flimsy the wooden walls were and thought, “wouldn’t stone walls work better?” And so I asked Ellaine.
She wasn’t convinced about it initially, but when I started mentioning I could create a [Terra Wall] strong enough to block most fire spells and argued it could prevent attacks on the village, she accepted. I also offered to do it for her mansion’s walls, but it seems they were already fortified by a terra mage. Damn.
Still, I earned five small silvite for the whole procedure which means my party had 5700 Davi in total funds. Usually, this sorta task would require multiple mages to do but I can do it by myself in a single day. Now, Carine village was supported by a [Terra Wall] made by me, hie hie.
Also, I finally took the chance to ask Ellaine if I could build my concert stage inside the village. I’ve only been preparing the songs and dance choreographies these past days, I completely forgot about the venue; without a stage, I wouldn’t be able to call it a proper idol concert. Ellaine suggested building it in the area where I always gave my sermons, as it was the largest unoccupied space in the village. The village used to have a church here, but it was burned down during the bandit attack and hasn’t been rebuilt due to a lack of masons and earth mages.
The stage itself was kept simple. I only needed a platform, really. Of course, I haven’t forgotten about the lights and other necessary equipment to show Peolynca what a true idol concert would look like, but I can solve this problem later with my spells and scale-dust. I was a one-woman team right now, at least until I can figure out how Saori or Tasianna can help me. It was honestly a skeleton crew, but all this concert needed right now were my parallel minds and me, the idol.
“We’ve been promoting it around the village, and considering we’re doing it here, there will be a high chance that all villagers will join aside from the small children,” I informed Ellaine. “It might become crowded, but I would be delighted if you could join,” I told her with a wink.
“New year’s eve, correct? I’ve heard you play the geigler, but I would love to hear your singing voice, Lady Hestia,” Ellaine replied as a connoisseur of music.
After that, I started visiting Ellaine at her family’s mansion. I’ve kinda realized how important it was to start gathering information about this world, not slowly, but with full tempo. My mistake of not knowing how to address nobles might not have been too damning, but who knows what will await me in the future. Ellaine, who was giving me insight on the noble side of society, was invaluable.
“Mhmm, this taste…heavenly,” Ellaine uttered as she finished taking a bite of fragassa pound cake, mesmerized by the taste as she kept her eyes with a pleased smile. “I fear our sweets cannot compare to your generous gift, Lady Hestia.”
“You are being far too harsh, Lady Ellaine. The pastries were passable but the sweets go perfectly with our tea,” I answered in my “noble” tone as I ate another of the candy.
During my information gathering sessions, I learned that having tea and sweets was customary when a noble lady visited another. As Ellaine was fond of our cake, I made sure to bring some cake whenever we came over to loosen her tongue a bit more.
Speaking of sweets, the pastry and candy she offered me weren’t too bad. While the pastry didn’t hold a candle to our beautiful cake, I could taste the craftsmanship and high-quality ingredients used in its preparation. The candy, especially, was delicious as Ellaine’s chef team used authentic sugar for it, not some fructose sugar they extracted from fruits or honey as we did. I had no idea how much the candy cost, but Ellaine was serving it liberally, so there shouldn’t be a problem.
“So this event happens every five years? When was the last time this happened?” I asked her on a certain subject.
“The last ‘Grand Duke Selection’ was held two years ago. Aside from House Morgiana who lost their title to House Myrddin, all the other Grand Dukes have stayed the same,” Ellaine explained.
Our discussion was about the seven dukes of the Kingdom of Artorias. Ellaine had already explained to me the concept of the three different tiers of nobles but there were also two tiers within the dukes. At the top of noble society sat the royal house of Artorias, the ruling family of the kingdom of Artorias, and acting as their pillars were the four grand ducal and three ducal houses.
Although I wasn’t sure if I could remember every single noble house, remembering seven names was easy enough for me. The seven dukes were split into four categories; Morgiana and Myrddin belonged to the arcane houses; Lecartiglio and Groushia were military houses; Greenveil and Equevanna were focused on economics; and lastly, Olivus was the only religion-focused house.
Every five years, a “Grand Duke Selection” happens where the king chooses four grand dukes from the four different categories. These grand dukes will serve as the advisors for that specific affair and gain the prestige of the title.
The current grand dukes were; House Lercartiglio as the Grand Duke of Military Affairs, Equevanna as the Grand Duke of Economic Affairs, Myrddin as the Grand Duke of Arcane Affairs, and Olivus as the Grand Duke of Religious Affairs.
That remindd me, that fanatical fire mage, Macklemor, once mentioned House Morgiana held the Grand Duke rank but it would seem his information was outdated.
While I don’t know when I’ll be able to use this information, learning about it now would be better than later.
“Thank you very much for your help, Lady Ellaine. It was another fruitful day for me,” I said my thanks to her as I noticed the sky turning orange.
“Your words honor me, Lady Hestia. If it would please you, could I suggest you stay here in the mansion with me? That way you wouldn’t have to travel to our mansion every morning,” Ellaine offered with a serene smile.
Showing her an equally pleasant smile, my mind only came up with one word to reply to this question she’s been asking me every day, “No.”
She shrugged her shoulders, having anticipated my answer, and dropped the subject for the day. “Tomorrow will be the God Thanking Festival. I heard from Barathan that the village has been preparing for the celebrations and subsequent feast. Will you serve as the priestess for them?”
Oh right, time has passed quite quickly, huh? Today was already the sixth of AuthumnMoon and tomorrow would be “Origdiviel Arashan”, the God Thanking Festival. Well, considering I’ve been learning about the kingdom, experimenting with special effects for my stage performance, and developing new custom spells, it would be weird if time hadn’t gone by so fast.
“Yes, the village chief asked me about it. I’ve only learned the lyrics recently, but I will attend it as a priestess, mostly because all the villagers have been begging me to do so,” I responded without sarcasm as people were begging outside my house when I initially declined it. “…And you? Will you join us?”
“…I am a noble and they are my subjects. I have no place there, especially with how filthy it is. I cannot understand why you would spend your time there, Lady Hestia,” Ellaine said with a forced smile, hiding the glint of sadness in her eyes.
“…As rude as this sounds, your family are acting extremely selfish. They are enjoying their time at the capital, leaving you all alone here. I’m beginning to lose all respect for your father here, unbelievable,” I said bluntly as my smile waned.
I’ve recently learned why Ellaine wasn’t accompanying her family to the capital, and that’s ‘cause her father ordered her to stay here to act as my lady-in-waiting or whatever. I’ve also heard she recently came of age, which means she was 15 years old like me, and was excited to join the festival and ball at the capital as her noble debut as an adult.
Personally, I didn’t care about the ball part, but I could understand her desire to attend a ball very well. However, I was more annoyed about the fact she wasn’t spending time with her parents tomorrow, as I believe this event was the Christmas eve equivalent. You’re supposed to spend time with family during Christmas!
“Lady Hestia, please, it’s alright. It is my duty as a noble to stay here, supervising you while you stay in our lands. This might be rude of me to say, but I am being forced to stay because of your reluctance to go with us to the capital,” Ellaine squeezed out in defense of her family. “While it might not be what I wished for, I do feel a sense of pride in being helpful to you. If I could help my house’s relationship with you, then I will have done my best as a lady of House Helvas. It isn’t often a daughter of a count can become an acquaintance to a royal princess.”
I couldn’t speak against her anymore, so I left the mansion feeling sad for Ellaine. Could I maybe visit her after the feast, I wonder? But I wanted to spend my first Christmas with Saori and Tasianna; they were my family now after all. It was a debacle, but the answer was clear once I asked myself who was more important to me.
On the next day, the villagers were in high spirits as all of them, men and women, participated in the festivities. The sounds of laughing kids playing with each other resounded through the village. All while the men started drowning themselves in ale and the little amounts of rice wine they somehow managed to make before the festival, releasing their inner child as they challenged each other with sports.
On the other hand, the wives and single women tried their damnest to hack and slice through the mountain of dried fish. The intensity of the cooking process made the cold of winter seem almost non-existent with multiple cooking stations roaring in unison, crowded by those very same chefs. Rita and her bakery brought out piping hot yeast-less bread while fresh milk was being transformed into butter and cream in merry excitement.
This whole scene made the tragedy they had faced two months ago almost feel like a bad dream.
As the food slowly piled up on the dishwares, the humble yet fantastic feast began to form. Any men or teens the women managed to drag away from their sports and fun, they ordered them to carry everything into the church grounds, where the feast was being held this year.
“The Gods watch over us as the earth turns heavenly white ♫
To honor our patrons, we servants feast in their name, praying and praising their name with every bite ♫
They blessed us with shelter, food, friendship, love, and life ♫
So in their name, we shall live good lives, so our faith may fuel their power above in their domain ♫”
The song I sang was dedicated to the origin gods, to show our thanks for them coming into our lives. The effects were too profound for me to fully understand but it seems every villager was in deep prayer as I sang it. Usually, without a priest, villagers would sing it together, but with me here, they could dedicate this time to praying to the gods, asking for their blessing and help in the comming year. It shouldn’t be a surprise to me anymore, but I was being constantly reminded of how pious these villagers were.
Once the song was over, the feast officially began. As I was the “guest of honor”, my table was situated on my concert stage where I could overlook everybody, while also having the most food on the table. Saori joined me, but I hadn’t been expecting Tasianna to agree to come as well, as I thought we would celebrate later at home. As the table was away from the villagers, Tasianna would be able to tolerate the company, especially when she really wanted to celebrate this day with me.
This is exactly what I wanted. The three of us, having fun on this day.
The food wasn’t anything to write home about with the severe lack of seasoning, but I didn’t mind the taste as I was eating it with the two people I considered the most precious in this world. The solitude until I met them was torture, now that I think back on it.
So spending my time, laughing and joking with them at this table made my spirit shine like it never did before. Nobody cared about status or social ranks today, giving my companions and me free rein over how we acted in public. The villagers were so intoxicated by the atmosphere that the amount of people calling me by my name instead of “Lady Priestess” or “m’lady” grew considerably in size.
I hope Ellaine is doing well…
“Lady Hestia,” suddenly somebody snuck past the festive villagers and climbed up on the stage, speaking to me with a hushed voice. “Do you have time, right now? Could I speak to you?”
Looking in that direction, I noticed it was Lorena, slightly flushed from all the merriment with a wry smile plastered on her face. “Oh, sure, I’ve got time. What do you want to talk about, Lorena?”
“It’s about my pregnancy and my plans for the future.”
